U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks to reporters at the Department of Education after hosting a listening session on the impact of the Department’s Title IX sexual assault guidance on students and families and institutions. (Photo: Jasper Colt, USA TODAY Network)

Just in time for the new school year: new insights into how Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plans to tackle higher education issues in America.

Since her controversial confirmation in February (which required a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence), the divisive DeVos has shied away from speaking with media. She sat down Aug. 9 with the Associated Press to discuss a wide range of topics, from for-profit schools and affirmative action, to sexual assault on campus and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Below are highlights from that conversation, plus suggested background reading for key context.

On her relationship with minorities (specifically, the LGBTQ and black communities)

What DeVos told AP:

“My last three decades have been working on behalf of primarily minority families and students to allow them to make choices for their kids. And to think anything otherwise, my feelings otherwise for providing opportunities for minority students is just absolutely false. I mean, that’s where my heart has been for three decades is to really empower and allow all families the same kind of opportunities I’ve had for my kids.”

The Department of Education has the power to withhold federal funding from private colleges that discriminate against LGBTQ students, but comments made by DeVos in June suggest the department may forgo that right. FYI: Nearly a dozen LGBTQ students at private universities have alleged discrimination over the past five years, particularly at institutions with religious affiliations.

DeVos supports vouchers that would give lower-income students across America $12,000 each to put towards private school tuition, including religious schools. This controverisal system would cost $20 billion in federal funding.

TL;DR: DeVos dodged the LGBTQ part of the question, but she did go on to talk about the black community, which brings us to…

On historically black colleges and universities

What DeVos told AP:

“Let me just comment on what I think was an out of context comment and a misunderstanding with the HBCUs. When I talked about it being a pioneer in choice it was because I acknowledge that racism was rampant and there were no choices. These HBCUs provided choices for black students that they didn’t have. I think that that comment was — while I could have said it, stated it much better — my intention was to say they were pioneering on behalf of students that didn’t have another choice. This was their only choice.”

So, what was that “out of context” comment?

After meeting with HBCU presidents and chancellors in February, DeVos issued the following statement.

Critics took particular issue with her comment that “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.”

So, they schooled the secretary of education with a history lesson: HBCUs weren’t founded to create more choices for black people. They were founded in response to racist Jim Crow laws that propagated segregation in the South, barring black people from attending traditionally white institutions. In other words, HBCUs were the only choice for black people for many years.

DeVos clarified her statement the next day in a speech honoring civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune, saying “the traditional school systemically failed to provide African Americans access to a quality education — or, sadly, more often to any education at all.”

On the federal government’s role in education

What DeVos told AP:

“We believe the federal government’s role is in education and that is a much less heavy footprint than has been present in recent years. We really believe that states are the best laboratories of democracy on many fronts.

We think that there has been an overreach in many cases on the part of the federal government in really intruding on states’ issues and states’ areas of responsibility as well as trying to engineer things from the federal level in a way that is not helpful to students overall.”

Background:

This isn’t DeVos’ first time giving a “leave it to the states” answer. She leaned on that response in her rocky January confirmation hearing and has applied it to several issues, including Title IX, protections for students with disabilities and LGBTQ students’ rights.

TL;DR: Sure, DeVos holds a standard conservative point of the view — i.e. that states should take the lead on developing polices while the federal government takes a backseat. Still, critics argue this strategy could embolden states to ignore existing federal education policies.

On sexual assault on college campuses

What DeVos told AP:

“We know we have to get this right. We have to get this right on behalf of all students. I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it, sexual assault anywhere at any time is horrible and we need to decry it and at the same time we need to ensure that the processes to address it when it happens are done right.”

Background:

During her confirmation hearing in January, DeVos was asked if she would uphold the guidelines used to fight sexual assault on college campuses if named secretary of education. She dodged the question.

In July, the Education Department’s senior civil rights official, Candice Jackson, came under fire for stating that “90%” of sexual assault accusations “fall into the category of ‘We were both drunk.'” Survivors of campus sexual assault cried foul over the suggestion that sexual assaults are mainly regretted drunken hookups, prompting Jackson to later walk her comments back.

Also in July, DeVos met with three different groups connected to the issue of sexual assault: university administrators and Title IX coordinators; advocacy groups and survivors of sexual assault; and men’s rights groups and students falsely accused of sexual assault.” The latter group argues that Obama-era civil rights guidance tips the scales against those accused of sexual assault, to which DeVos said: “All their stories are important.”

TL;DR: DeVos doubled down on her stance that the current processes in place under Title IX for addressing sexual assault on colleges campus aren’t working. Sexual assault survivors and advocates as well as men’s rights groups and students who claim to have been falsely accused of assault agree with her, though for opposing reasons. As for DeVos’ proposed fix? Still unclear.

On affirmative action in college admissions

What DeVos told AP:

“I think this has been a question before the courts and the courts have opined. We have not been involved with the Justice Department’s posting and again I think as they have stated, this was an internal issue and one that they are continuing to move forward on. I think the bottom line here is that we want an environment where all students have an opportunity, an equal opportunity to get a great education whether that’s at the K-12 level or the higher-ed level.”

Background:

The New York Times reported in August that the Justice Department, at the request of the Trump administration, will explore whether it can sue higher education institutions over affirmative action policies that the White House deems discriminatory against white applicants.

TL;DR: The Justice Department is digging into affirmative action, but DeVos still hasn’t taken a clear stance on the policies.

On for-profit colleges

What DeVos told the Associated Press:

“Let’s be clear, no student should be defrauded and in case of fraud there should be remedy. But we also know this approach has been unevenly applied and if there’s going to be regulation around some institutions we believe it needs to be fairly applied across the board.”

Background:

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia sued the Education Department and DeVos in July for rescinding Obama-era rules that aim to protect students from exploitative colleges. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who led the lawsuit, said “DeVos has sided with for-profit school executives against students and families drowning in unaffordable student loans” since “day one.”

TL;DR: DeVos is siding with for-profit colleges and against regulation — for now, at least. Stay tuned.